Flight Details
Batik Air ID6061
Jakarta Soekarno Hatta Airport / Terminal 2
Departure: 08:55
Denpasar I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Bali
Arrival: 11:45
Flight time: 1h50m
Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-900ER
Seat: 1F
After leaving the lounge, we headed through security, which was very crowded although thankfully orderly. Once through we went straight to Gate E4 where our flight would be departing from... or so we thought. Boarding was slated to start at 8:25, although an informal boarding announcement was made at 8:14. Boarding was a free for all unfortunately, although it soon became clear that it didn't matter for it turned out that our plane is parked at a remote gate.
Boarding Lounge
After ~5 minutes waiting on the (socially distanced) bus, we were driven a halfway through the airport to our plane that's parked at the old Terminal 1 (which appears to be closed at the moment).
The plane taking us to Denpasar, a 7.5 year old B737-900ER, registered PK-LBI
The upcoming Indonesian Airline, Super Air Jet
Once aboard, we found our seats in row 1. There are 12 seats in the J cabin, considerably small compared to J cabins on EU or US flights. The cream coloured leather seats look rather worn although was still very comfortable. We noticed the bags being loaded based on priority. Transfers and Business Class luggage are placed last, door-side. Really appreciate this detail that many airlines often can't pull off (I'm looking at you
BA). The attention was evident later on when our checked bags were the first to come out (more points!). After three socially distanced bus loads of passengers, the flight was finally boarded. Business Class ended up with 4 empty seats. It appeared that two passengers may have upgraded at check-in as 3 hours before the flight 7 seats were still available. Furthermore, one deadheading Lion Air pilot took a seat at the row across.
All the announcements were very clear in both Bahasa and English.
Business Class Seats
Baggage Loading
Bulkhead
Interesting traffic... also note the Batik Air plane with an identity crisis
Service and Entertainment
There wasn't a pre-departure service of hot towels or PDBs, although that is widely the case across the industry and expected with regards to the pandemic.
After take-off, there was a significant lack of service in the cabin. The F/As kept to themselves up to halfway through the flight (more on that later). Meanwhile, I checked out the inflight entertainment system. A PTV can be pulled out from the centre arm rest. The screen was very responsive, and as such is very impressive compared to the screens found older Garuda aircraft. There were a handful of Western films and television shows, as well as a bunch of Indian and East Asian films. A flight map was also available although unfortunately it was one of the older kind.
Welcome screen
Movie Selection
Flight map
Now back to the lack of service for the first half of the flight... Around 35 minutes prior to landing everyone was handed a doggie bag containing a meal. Along with this was an announcement explaining the reason and instructions that the meal was not to be consumed on the flight. This is furthermore justified by an official court order placed by the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation prohibiting all airlines the serving of food and beverages for flights under two hours. As far as could be observed, both Y and J pax were served identical looking doggie bags, although it was later apparent that the contents are different. Interestingly, shortly after two back-to-back announcements on the consumption instructions, the deadheading pilot sitting across casually opened his box and started eating... hmmm...
Up to this point I was very very impressed by the airline's performance although this is were things went not so good. Shortly, before the meals were served, a man came up from Y and plonked himself on the empty seat in row 2. If that weren't bad enough, he wasn't wearing his mask and started talking out loud to the passenger across from him (who was probably his friend). Mind you, he was talking so loud that his saliva was splattering everywhere. That's rude before a pandemic, but is a lot worse now... unfortunately, the F/As never actually confronted the passenger despite passing by him multiple times. It was evident that they noticed, although it just seemed that weren't willing to confront the self-upgrading passenger.
I was about to head to the lavatory in the front section, though I was momentarily stopped by an F/A who claimed the lavatory was occupied. It turns out they were cleaning the lavatory (great attention) and shortly they came and explained that it was ready for use. I'm happy to say that it was in a very clean state. As I passed the galley on the way back to my seat, I noticed an F/A was peeling what looked like a whole burdock or cassava root in the galley. What the?!
In spite of all this, the F/A were all very friendly and courteous.
Mt Semeru(?)
Jimbaran
We soon started descent, and in no time we were on our final approach. The flight landed more or less on time, despite departing around 10 minutes late. Our landing was smooth. The arrivals was deserted. There were a few people checking that everyone has filled in the Indonesian passenger locator forms, and a few airport employees but otherwise the arrivals level is devoid of people. Once we arrived at the baggage claim, the baggage handlers put up a sign allocating a dedicated area for business class baggage. Sure enough once the bags started coming out 3 minutes later, all the priority marked bags were taken and placed in that area. Again, points for the attention of detail.
Shortly after, we were met by the representative from Kayumanis and went on our way.
I only had a chance to eat the meal once at the hotel. The meal consisted of a small bento box that contained something described as "Oregano Cheesy Salty Choco Cake". What was inside was two pieces of bread. The first looked like a cross between a focaccia and a spongecake. Upon closer inspection there was some gooey velveeta-like cheese spread wedge between. It was surprisingly edible and very moist. The chocolate cake was also surprisingly moist... something i wasn't expecting from aeroplane bread in SEA. Overall, not bad at all!
Doggie Bag
Meal served wrapped
Cheese filled focaccia like bread with chocolate bread (talk about carbs!)
Verdict
Despite the shortcomings with rule enforcement, the flight and overall experience was surprisingly very good, particularly at the price paid for the ticket. I'm very impressed and this was a significant change from the Batik Air I flew 4 years prior. Overall I'm happy with the airline, and would be willing to consider them again for flights in the future.